


Regrets (I've Had A Few)

by InTheWind



Category: Law & Order
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 05:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6271807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InTheWind/pseuds/InTheWind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the help of some liquid courage, Mike finally figures out how to tell Liz that she's the one that got away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Regrets (I've Had A Few)

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt "It wasn't supposed to happen like that" from aifeilin on Tumblr.

“You came.”

Mike looked vaguely surprised as Liz slid onto the bar stool next to him, as if he hadn't been slurring her name into the phone just twenty minutes ago.

She frowned. “You didn't think I would?”

“No, it's not that,” he was quick to answer. “It's just been a long time, is all.”

“Yes, it has.”

He broke the ensuing awkward silence by turning away from her to get the bartender's attention; he ordered another scotch for himself and a chardonnay for her. As the drinks were poured, neither of them remarked on the fact that he still remembered what she liked although it had been years since  he'd had the occasion to order for her .

Liz took a sip of her wine, letting it settle for a minute on her tongue before asking, “Why am I here?”

“Why are any of us here?” Mike pondered, but his faux-intellectualism was cut short as a wide grin spread haphazardly over his face. “Come on, Liz. I can't invite an old friend out for drinks once every... ten years?”

Liz arched an eyebrow but continued to drink her wine, saying nothing.

He cast around for a safer subject, finally settling on “How are the kids?”

“They're good,” she said. “Frank has them this weekend.” Noticing his puzzled expression, she explained, “We decided to go our separate ways a few years ago. It ended pretty well, all things considered.”

“What happened?”

She shrugged and gave him a small, sad smile. “I'd say we grew apart, but I'm not sure we were ever really all that together. We wanted the same things—the house, the kids, the whole nine yards—and I guess we each thought the other was as good a person to have them with as any. Eventually I realized that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life making polite small talk with a stranger in my own home. Honestly, I think we were both relieved when it was over.”

“I can't imagine anybody being relieved about losing you,” he said.

Liz looked down at her glass, but Mike reached out and smoothed an errant lock of hair away from her face, drawing her eyes back to him.

“Do you ever wonder what would have happened,” he asked hesitantly, “I mean, if we...”

She silenced him with a finger to his lips. “You're drunk,” she said, not unkindly. “Tomorrow you're going to wake up with a raging headache wondering what you were thinking even calling me at all.”

His eyes still twinkled like the cocky young cop she'd known more than two decades ago. “That depends on how you answer the question.”

She sighed. “Are you asking me if I've thought about us? Yes, of course I have, but that doesn't change anything.” She lowered her voice, although the bar was full of people drinking away their own problems who didn't seem to care about hers or Mike's in the slightest. “You were my patient,” she reminded him.

He nodded, his expression growing somber. “I know,” he said. “It wasn't supposed to happen like that. I never should have asked you to put your career on the line for me.”

“I could have said no.”

He snorted. “You did, as I recall.”

“I could have said no _sooner_ ,” she retorted. “I wanted to be with you, Mike, and I let that blind me to my professional obligations. I've never done that for anyone before or since.”

“There's never been anyone for me but you, Liz,” he told her.

“That's not how I remember it,” she said, nudging him playfully.

“You know what I mean. Come on, you really gonna make me say it?”

L iz laughed. Emotional expression had never been his strong suit, though falling in love with a psychologist had done wonders for him in that regard. “No, I know what you mean. I t seems like such a cliché to say that what we had was special, but the truth is I've never felt that way about anyone else, either.”

“So where does that leave us now?” he asked.

Liz took one last sip of her wine, depositing the glass back on the bar as she stood. “Now,” she said, leaning in to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek, “Don't wait another ten years before you call me again.”

And then she was gone, leaving nothing but a trace of her perfume in the air. Mike downed the rest of his scotch, staring at the spot where she'd just been.

It took him approximately ten seconds to go after her.


End file.
